The Yearning Heart
by Ink'n'Echo
Summary: She's already in Wonderland, yet, his heart is not satisfied. Will he really stand to see her falling in love with someone else? How much of a price was he willing to pay for her happiness... and his?


**Hi I'm back with a new story for my _The Hearts _series collection that I'm attempting to write! (You can check this out in my profile too ^^) First it was Julius in _The Solitary Heart_, then Ace's _The Wandering Heart _and Gray's _The Guardian Heart_. Now it's time to pay some attention to the poor rabbit who has been avoided and hated the most by Alice...seriously, poor guy T.T! I've also got request to do Boris's and Nightmare's but unfortunately I'm not very confident in writing them out yet but don't worry, I won't forget and I'll still try my best! :D **

**And to those who has voted for my poll, a BIG thanks to all of you! It is now closed and the results are posted on my profile too :)**

**This story is written as both a birthday gift to my awesome, Peter-loving forum buddy, _The Masked Chick_, and as her request. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MC XD! I hope you'll enjoy it and if there's any OOCness, don't hesitate to let me know k because as usual, I try but I do not assume to know the character inside out :p**

**Disclaimer: I do not own HnKnA except my story T-T**

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**(Peter&Alice)**

**- The Yearning Heart -**

**Chapter 1: Invisible**

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_Alice…Dearest Alice…_

_Why won't you come to me? _

_._

"_**I see you're still quite besotted with the girl… obsessed even…"**_

_**.**_

White lashes flutter open, he's long, sensitive ears twitched at attention as sharp, cold, crimson eyes peered warily from behind the heavy lids, to see a fuzzy green and purple surrounding...

And the owner of the intruding voice.

"Nightmare."

He curtly acknowledged the familiar visitor to his dream as he lifted a gloved finger and nudged the bridge of his spectacles onto a comfortable spot on his nose.

"Peter White."

The silver-haired incubus greeted with a smile and a slight nod as he drifted closer to the Prime Minister of Wonderland.

Peter regarded the Master of Dreamland with a frown as he folded his arms. Being in this place, it seemed like only yesterday when he appealed to Nightmare to help him bring Alice into Wonderland.

"And from that time till now, I can only assume that there is no progress?" Nightmare smooth and low voice sweetly asked, causing Peter to scowl in annoyance at the accuracy of his statement.

Talking to Nightmare would cause many to feel insecure, because with that damnable mind-reading ability of his, the incubus was like a mirror, reflecting back the harshness of your darkest secrets and the depths of your deepest fears. Sure, many a souls would waver before Nightmare…

But not Peter White.

"Humph! There will be. As long as she stays here, sooner or later, Alice is going to realize that the one she truly loves is me." The rabbit-eared man insisted confidently. _Because I'm not someone whom she can easily forget… She loves me... I just know it!_ He reassured himself.

After all, her love was the reason for his existence.

"My my, someone's positively optimistic." Nightmare chuckled deeply at the innocence of the White Rabbit. So naïve and blinded by love, yet so very strong and steadfast at the same time, Nightmare couldn't help admired the man. But it was time to make him see reality.

"Tis' true, but you _do_ know that Alice can just as easily love some other role-holder as well don't you? Seeing how she has already stirred the hearts of everyone; the Clock Master, the Cheshire Cat, the Knight of Hearts… and _especially_ the Mad Hatter." The pale-skinned youth deliberately emphasized as his keen, quicksilver eyes paid close attention to the rabbit's reaction.

"I do, need you even ask?" Peter admitted through clenched teeth. _Blood Dupre, that scoundrel! _Nightmare just had to remind him of his ultimate rival. "Even if it's no doubt that the best person to be with Alice is still me!"

If only Alice could see how much happier she would be with Dupre dead.

Scratch that. _If _**everyone**_ else was dead, Wonderland would be so much better for my Alice! _Peter corrected thoughtfully. But his triumph was short-lived, realizing that that would entirely defeat the purpose of the 'game'. But no sooner could his mind wander further with concocting plots of how to have Alice all to himself, Nightmare continued.

"And you are ok with that?"

"If it makes Alice happy, then yes, I will be." Peter replied, but his brows deepened in their furrows as he looked down at his feet.

It wasn't a lie, but it was beginning to feel like one.

And apparently the nosey one-eyed incubus knows it too.

"Even though _you_ were the one to bring her down the rabbit hole, the _very first_ role-holder she met…" Nightmare dwelled on as he slowly floated and circled the man in the red checkered-suit. "Can you really settle on the fact that the next person to 'catch' her fall will not necessarily be you?"

"I will _always_ be there to catch her fall, whether Alice needs me or not." Peter turned to Nightmare with a resolute and deadly glare, stopping the incubus in his tracks, as his snow white locks drifted across his face in anti-gravity space.

_This was what I have decided on before bringing Alice here..._ So what was Nightmare asking him all these useless questions anyway? But much to his displeasure, Nightmare's meaningless interrogation didn't stop.

"You don't regret bringing her here? Even at the cost of your happiness?" The man with the eye-patch inquired, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Of course!" _That idiot is seriously testing my patience!_ Peter thought to himself. It was unthinkable to even doubt his love for the foreigner! Needless to say, he was already overjoyed to have her here… or was he? Why then, was he still feeling so incomplete, his restless heart not sated at all?

His frustrated emotions were riling him up, and the White Rabbit didn't like that. Because unlike the other germ infested inhabitants, _he_ was a refine, cultured and well-mannered rabbit, who was most befitting to stay by Alice's side more than anyone.

If only he could actually _stay_ with her for more than 5 minutes, before the golden haired girl throws him off as usual.

Peter shook his concerns away and busied himself by checking his schedule. He took his huge, golden pocket watch into his hands and noted the time, not that it matters much here in Wonderland.

_Hm. It's three at noon already? I'll just have her Majesty's meeting at three' clock in the night then... _Peter contemplated. Though it was fickle, time was never an issue for him, but he still wanted to keep track of it.

Because time, somehow, always made him feel in control.

"Is your purpose here just to irritate me, worm? If there is nothing else important to say then leave me be to my work." Peter brushed Nightmare off intolerantly. He was already losing precious time chatting nonsensically with this guy.

"Oh that's right." A grin curved Nightmare's pale thin lips furtively, suddenly lighting up and snapping his fingers in mock sudden realization. "Because Alice said she like hardworking rabbits didn't she?"

"Ah, but alas! My love demands _so_ much from me!" Peter exaggerated, clasping his hands together over his chest. Hearing the three words 'Alice', 'like', and 'rabbits' was enough to send Peter's cold metallic heart into a ticking frenzy and overflowing it with an addictive warmth.

There was no one quite like Alice and her charms to him.

"But there's nothing I wouldn't change for Alice, and I bet it's her way of shaping me into her ideal man!" Peter cooed at the possibility as he cupped his blushing face, his head feeling high and light-headed at once, while Nightmare could only watch with a deadpanned face at the love-sick albino who kept ranting his love away.

"You're… excessive, delusional love… I-it… makes me want to puke…" Nightmare grimaced into his violet silky handkerchief, threatening to turn its color red instead.

"Blame it on your own incapability if you can't handle passion." Peter snorts derisively. "And it's not delusional!" he snapped back as the dream demon looked away skeptically.

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**"But you have longed for her the most…"**

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Nightmare's tone suddenly grew serious, and Peter eyed him questioningly as his red orbs narrowed in caution.

"And you always will…" Nightmare concluded.

"That… is something I can endure, for my love for her is true and pure." The White Rabbit answers without hesitation, though he glanced away from the silver prying eyes and gripped his fist hard. The extent of how much he wanted Alice was already a known fact which he had ensured to make clear of even before she came. It was a risky game of love that they play…

_But if it's for Alice's happiness, then I would gladly risk everything… It is as simple as that. _He told himself with renewed resolve, deliberately allowing the incubus to read his mental determination. And like a perfectionist, he saw to it that he was good at what he does; and that includes capturing the foreigner's heart, no matter how difficult it may seem.

_There's no other way to it, Alice _will_ love me… _he confidently reaffirms his belief_,_ never once allowing his clockwork heart to sway.

"I've graciously answered everything you wanted to know, so will you please get out of my dream now." Peter impatiently said, placing a hand on his hips crossly, wanting to get this over and done with. He still has yet to see Alice for the day too and that was high up in his to-do list. In fact, it has been a while since he last saw the foreigner.

Nightmare heaves a sigh of resign. Tilting his head, the Dream Master gave Peter a smile that hid too many a meanings. A smile that was beginning to irritate the hell out Peter just as much as his questions did. Nightmare then raised his hand in preparation to return the role-holder to the insane reality that was Wonderland.

"I pity you… Peter White…"

_CLAP._

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_._

The rabbit man who had his eyes closed while sitting at the desk in the Prime Minister's office woke up for the second time that day. Peter straightened his already upright posture, starring down at the document with a wax seal in front of him, and a writing quill held loosely in one hand.

"_I pity you… Peter White…"_

Recalling Nightmare's words, his already formed frown deepens.

_Pity?_ He didn't need pity. He needed Alice.

Sunlight shone through his decorated windows and Peter turned his gaze away from the dark gloom of his office to admire the bright, blue and white expanse of the sky outside, reminding himself of the similar shade of blue dress that Alice always wore, and that miracle of a bright cheer that only Alice had managed to bring into his life.

_Why won't she come see me? _Peter linked his fingers and rested his chin on them, pondering._ Why won't she even SEE me?_ _I bear my entire heart before her, yet it's invisible. _He told himself miserably again, not comprehending his situation at all.

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**_I'm invisible._**

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It was a hard admittance to swallow; one doubtful thought which he so rarely and reluctantly permitted, especially since he's no longer in Nightmare's territory where nothing could be kept a secret.

Suddenly, his highly receptive white ears perked up, picking up and recognizing a voice so sweet that he could feel himself falling in love all over and over again just by listening to it.

"Alice…" His once forlorn eyes widened in pure elation as he lifted his head and stared out of the window. "She's here… in the castle!"

Three small humble knocks rapped on the Prime Minister's door, and two soldiers of Hearts appeared at his doorway, bowing before they dare enter.

"I apologize for disturbing Lord White, but her Majesty has requested- Lord White!" One of them cried out in surprise as the armchair scrapped loudly across the floor backward, and a flurry flash of white and red flew towards the skylight. Gripping the windowsill firmly, Peter hoisted his body and flung himself over and out of the three stories high window, somersaulting once to reduce the impact of his fall, before gracefully landing on the balls of his feet.

"Alice… My darling…Wait for me!" He called out and focused his every attention on tracing her voice. Beaming with bliss and grinning like an idiot determined to see her, Peter sprinted towards the direction of his angel…

His hope… His dream... His love…

His life.

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**Hmmm... is it just me or is Nightmare the only one who has managed to make a special appearence in all my stories? LOL!:P I tried to think like Peter to get a deeper meaning to his character but if it's OOC or if there's anyway I can improve my writing then do REVIEW and let me know! Reviews can motivate me so much to write faste and longer updates XD**

**In the next chapter:** Peter find Alice, much to her dismay -_-"' but he soon realises that shes with another man. Who will it be and what will he do to get Alice back? Stick around to find out! :D

**And last but not least, thank you so much for reading! ^^**


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